Saturday, September 06, 2008

Spent part of the last couple of days reading the various reactions to Sarah Palin’s speech. Abso-friggin’-lutely amazing. Both the level of downright hate(in some cases) and the way some of these clowns actually despise and want to destroy this woman. AND her family, since if they hurt her family bad enough then maybe she’ll go away and stop threatening the Ascension of The Obama. Everything from Barack That Woman Troubles Me Obama whining that ‘she used Bush’s speechwriter(she used a speechwriter! Who ever HEARD of such a thing?) to the Professional Triple-Layered Edited Major Media displaying personal bias that’s damn near breathtaking.

I find it interesting to note that the same people hyperventilating and having to change their diapers over the thought of this, this woman threatening their beloved Fearless Leader, are largely the same people who have fits and horrors at the idea of members of thr masses owning firearms. So her stand on that subject makes her even more of a object of terror and loathing than her others already do. Amazing the level of fear an object- or someone who owns and uses such- can arouse.

One thing I stopped believing about dogs a long time ago was the “You must have a freshly-washed water bowl filled with clean fresh water at least once a day.” Plenty of water, sure. Clean the bowl out, yes. Must be washed out at least once a day, bullcrap. We’re talking about a critter that will ignore the fresh water to walk across the yard and drink out of the birdbath; they’re not exactly picky as long as it’s wet and there’s plenty of it.

Back when I first started forging I had a crisper drawer from a refrigerator- an enameled one- under the forge as a slack tub. Leaves floating in it, scale from quenching on the bottom, etc., and the dogs would make a trip across the yard, passing their water bowl on the way, to drink out of it.

Good food, surely. But don’t forget that a highly-pampered lapdog will happily dig up something buried for a while to season and eat it. That he might throw it up on the designer couch later doesn’t change the fact that he’ll see it as a delightful treat.

Moldy bone: it’s what’s for dinner.

I haven't been able to hit the range again as yet for more fun with the laser grips. I have been doing dry-fire practice, and in a dim room I like them more and more.

It seems Ann & Nancy Wilson, the sisters who started Heart and did the song Barracuda are royally pissed at the Stupid Party- and probably everyone on talk radio- for using the song for Sarah Palin's theme(once her nickname came out, I heard that song more than I had in years). Doesn't surprise me; they are musicians in a rock band from Seattle- but, I admit, a little disappointed.

Steve has been breathlessly following reports of the Cone of Death on Hurricane Ike, wondering if inconvenience shall strike him. Of course, with hurricane's 'inconvenience' can include no power for long periods, no roof, flooding, etc. Like a tornado many miles wide coming through. And no power in Florida in September would not be fun. To say the least.

Oh, boy, UhBama has lost it. Just like you keep hearing people talking about Bush, who's not running, Barack Dammit This Woman Is Scary UhBama is attacking Palin. And on grounds he's not exactly in a good position to be whining about. Ace lists The Obama's Chicago Way:You wanna know how to get McCain? They pull a knife, you pull a hissy fit.

They pull a gun, you call a press conference to tell the media how mean they are.

She attacks your record, you attack her 17-year-old daughter.

She fights back, you hide behind Hillary's skirts.

That's the Chicago way, and that's how you get McCain!

In Ace's comments:In a way I think that it makes sense that Rambobama is attacking Palin. The dims probably see her as a serious, if not main, threat. Not only now, but in the future as well.

A future that is haunted with night terrors of being hunted by some crazy woman on a dog sled.With a moose rifle.

Couple of days ago, right after Palin's first speech someone- can't remember if it was The Obama or his staff- was whining about her speech being 'divisive' because she dared to say something unkind about Obama and Biden. My first thought: "Ohhh, is the mean lady being nasty to you? Is she actually being an opponent instead of trying to act like Evil Party Lite? Well, TOUGH SHIT.I've been sick to death for a long time of Stupid Party members trying to appease the Evil Party and be 'bi-partisan'; because that always translates to bending over and "Thank you, may I have another?" I WANT partisanship, I WANT divisive. And it's finally happening(except for the two-faced little bozos in the Gang of miserable slimy betrayersTen).

tonight I might as well say "Go to Sondra's place and scroll down." But, so I can say something here,Bill Whittle writes about the current situation since Palin's nomination and McCain's speech.

The reasons Sarah Palin isn't qualified, including:She has never been on “Meet the Press.”

She didn’t write her own speech Wednesday night.

Her 17-year-old daughter is going to be an unwed mother - oh, scratch that, Bristol’s getting married to the young self-described “redneck.” Ooooh, how retro, getting married just because you’re pregnant!

Her hairdo is so . . .’80s.

She never heard of David Gergen, Sally Quinn or Jann Wenner, and she doesn’t care what they say about her.

She’s not a citizen of the world, she’s a citizen of Alaska.And so on. And am I the only one who wishes we didn't know who those clowns are?

Friday, September 05, 2008

ticked-off calls. And some threats. I'd bloody well hope so.A hotel that refused an injured soldier a room, forcing him to spend the night in his car, was backed into issuing a grovelling apology yesterday after receiving a barrage of abusive phone calls.

The Metro Hotel, in Woking, Surrey, called the police as its phone lines were flooded with angry and threatening calls from the public.And why was he refused a room?The attack on the switchboards came after it emerged that Corporal Tomos Stringer, 24, had been told that it was company policy not to accept members of the Armed Forces.

A soldier since the age of 16 and veteran of multiple tours in Northern Ireland, Iraq and Afghanistan, Corporal Stringer had travelled to Surrey to help with funeral preparations for a friend killed in action.The miserable worms have apologized, etc., and claimed the receptionist had made a mistake. Uh huh. And would somebody inform me as to how she'd have made that 'mistake'?

Bullcrap. The bastards made a decision to crap on their troops, and now they're paying for it.

Thursday, September 04, 2008

Swissrifles.com has a lot of information, history, use and handloading, on the K31 and other Swiss rifles. They’ve got a translation of the user manual for the K31 and K11(pdf file), tech info, takedown/reassembly, ammo types and id, “Do not do this with your rifle”* list and so forth. Including this chart on figuring lead on a moving target:

And this list of training objectives:

And here are the targets:The 300 meter targets are 55cm high by 45 wide for the head/shoulders, 165 by 45 for the full-body. That works out to about 65” by 18” and 21.5” by 18”.

The story is that before WWII broke out, one of Hitler’s staff, Himmler I think, was on a state visit to Switzerland. Reviewing a unit drawn up for inspection, he asked his escort how many troops the Swiss could muster.“About 500,000, sir.”“What would you do if we invaded with one million troops?”“Each of us would have to shoot twice, sir.”

If it’s not true, it ought to be

*The sad thing is you have to figure people actually did some of these things to cause them to be listed as a “Don’t do that with your rifle, dumbass!” list.

You might not think I am being serious. But if I was Head of Democratic Services at Tower Hamlets Council in East London, I would be. Last week John Williams e-mailed each of the borough's 51 councillors with a similar instruction.

For the duration of Ramadan, the Muslim holy month, they are, he told them - every one of them, Muslim, Catholic, Jew or atheist - to behave during council meetings as strict Muslims. They are not to eat or drink; they are to break for Muslim prayers; they are to do as they are ordered by the Muslim religion.

Strict Muslims do not eat or drink between sunrise or sunset during Ramadan. Because sunset will fall during the meetings, there will be 45-minute adjournments so that councillors can break their fast and pray. And to make things easier, there will only be seven council meetings during the month.

In the aftermath of the dirty bastards getting to shoot buttloads of ammo with new guns Para blogger shoot(sounds like they were targets, doesn’t it?), there’s been a bunch written, especially by Tam, about laser sights. They’re something I’ve thought about, but kept putting of. I mean, something like Crimson Trace grips ain’t exactly cheap.

Then, at the show last weekend, a guy had a big selection of grips(with a demo mounted on each of a whole bunch of different pistols for trial) and I took a more serious look at them. My father looked them over and decided to get a pair for the S&W snubbie he carries. And, as a bonus, the guy had a Aimshot boresighter and a bunch of housings for different cartridges so he could boresight it for you. Dad was happy, and when I went back to the show the next day I broke down and bought a set for my Kimber.

Last couple of days I’ve done the usual fooling with them, then the other morning I was able to hit the range to zero them and give them a real try. After 60 rounds, I’m a believer. Put the dot on the spot and press the trigger, and watch the hole appear. Draw & fire, slowfire, it was great. The only thing- a distraction, not a real problem- is that, once there’s some smoke in the air, you do see a visible trace of the laser between you and the target. Which is kind of cool. Mind you, in an actual defense situation I can’t see it even being noticed.

The model I got has a single switch in the center, right under the trigger guard where your middle finger activates it. With a little practice you can open that finger a touch to turn it off, close to turn on. The other model has a switch on each side where a finger can press it down; that just didn’t work real well for me, the buttons were just in the wrong place for my hands. His having all the different models on either pistols or plastic models(the blue training ones) really helped make the choice. Helped sell them, for that matter.

For having to use a sidearm in a low-light situation, these things should be wonderful. And, as pointed out, for dry-fire training they’re helpful, too. There’s no question in your mind where the impact point would be, which, I think, would be especially helpful in point-shooting practice.

Two things. I fired a few left-handed and, as might be expected, the point of impact was off from the aim point; in my case about 3” to the right. However, four of the five rounds made one big ragged hole at about 20 feet. Which I can’t do with iron sights. For COM/high COM aim in a self-defense situation, I don’t think the goblin would much notice the difference.Second, if you’re right-handed and hold your finger WAY high along the frame, it blocks the laser. Happily my hold has always been lower, so didn’t have to adjust.

Tam notes some of the Dem reaction to the Speech. They're upset that she was 'divisive' and said nasty things about The Obama.

Got news for you jackasses, I WANT divisive. I WANT the candidate I support to rip large, bleeding chunks off the ass of the Evil Party. I'm sick to death of being told 'We must be bipartisan and friendly-cuddly with those who want to ruin us'. Bullcrap.

One of my problems with McCain is he seems to have sucked up that 'most exclusive club in the world' crap about the Senate and believed it. Palin doesn't and seems to have no problem telling the hired help in D.C. what she thinks of them. Hopefully, she'll keep doing it.

They want to bitch and whine about 'divisive'? Let's give them divisive.

Last few days I’ve been reading about the, can’t really call it reaction, the dementia being displayed by the leftists toward Palin. Just flat amazing, almost more so than it’s been disgusting.

‘Amazing’ are the leftists, especially in the media, with their “She has too many kids, she has a baby, she has a pregnant daughter so she should not have taken the offer.” They never offered one damn word of this toward any Democrat that I ever heard of, but that damned Palin just shouldn’t be running. Hell, she shouldn’t be ALLOWED to run.

Then the disgusting. The claims that the oldest daughter had had the baby and Sarah had faked pregnancy to hide it; that she’d endangered the baby by flying; apparently some disgusting example of a human has started a rumor that that Mr. Palin raped his daughter; on and bloody on. People stating flat-out that they’re willing to ‘sully’ themselves to destroy Sarah Palin, even if that means destroying her family as well. I think the least of this garbage has been the clowns ignoring that they and the media pretty much pressured the statement about Palin’s daughter being pregnant and then accused her of ‘throwing her daughter under the bus’. Ignoring that that’s Obama’s technique.

I keep coming back to that bleep(I just can’t think of a vile enough description) justifying wanting to destroy a family by saying “It’s for the greater good.” There’s a good little socialist tyrant, aren’t you? I wonder how many people you’d be willing to destroy with that claim? How many mass graves are you willing to dig and fill for your ‘greater good’? Hell, in comparison to that destroying a 17-year-old girl, her brothers and sisters, her parents, counts for nothing at all, does it?

I’m pretty much convinced that this is one of the most important elections we’ve faced in a long time. I think Obama and his minions- and his controllers- in the White House would be an unmitigated disaster for this country. The thought of it scares hell out of me. And the best I could say before about McCain is he wouldn’t be as bad as Obama. Sarah Palin has changed that somewhat. She’s an actual conservative/libertarian in her outlook, she’s not a career politician, she’s proven she has no problem with women doing whatever job while having no truck with the gender feminists. Someone, I think Rush, said that she’s one of the biggest threats imaginable to the leftists and socialists and her being nominated is driving them totally batshit(those who weren’t already there); hell, she’s forced the media to display their double-standards so blatantly I don’t think anyone can ever again claim they don’t exist*. It’s just amazing.

It’s also making them scream because her nomination has energized a lot of people toward voting McCain/Palin. Donations are up, people are actually showing enthusiasm. If he’d nominated someone like Leiberman or Graham, he’d have been dead in the water; now there’s a turbo on the campaign. And you can tell what a difference it’s made by the Tourette’s syndrome it’s revealed on the left.

*Yeah, I know, they will deny it. But after this, nobody but the most partisan moron will believe them. And those clowns are hopeless.

And I know she's not running for the top slot. I do think she can have an influence on things, though, and there's the possibility of her running for the top slot in a few years.

I wrote this last night, before I'd heard parts of her speech. I think some of the Obamessiah's people had to be either sputtering in outrage or wetting their pants- possibly both- as they listened.

Wednesday, September 03, 2008

backwards, bloody-handed barbarians, the people who do this- and those who defend it- should be treated as such.Five women were buried alive by their tribe in a mass honour killing prompted by their wish to choose their own husbands.

The victims, who included three teenagers, were abducted at gunpoint, beaten and shot before being thrown into a ditch.

They were still breathing as their bodies were covered with rocks and mud, according to media reports and human rights activists.

As to the defenders of this crap,A Pakistani lawmaker provoked outrage by defending men from the Baluch tribe who had carried out the killings.

Israr Ullah Zehri told stunned members of Pakistan's parliament: 'These are centuries-old traditions and I will continue to defend them,'

'Only those who indulge in immoral acts should be afraid.'

He claimed the tribal traditions helped stop obscenity - and then asked fellow lawmakers not to make a big fuss about it.Mr. Zehri & Co. should be introduced to the attitude of Gen. Napier toward the murder of women:"You say that it is your custom to burn widows. Very well. We also have a custom: when men burn a woman alive, we tie a rope around their necks and we hang them. Build your funeral pyre; beside it, my carpenters will build a gallows. You may follow your custom. And then we will follow ours."

Finally.The Gallatin Police Dept. released my Springfield 1911 yesterday - thanks to the persistence of my dad, who is both local to them, and very diplomatic and persuasive. Sad to say, the NRA’s legal team left me hanging, so after 7 weeks, my dad got a hold of the actual Gallatin Chief of Police, and got the entire ATF trace requirement in their policy waived, on the basis that I’d already done a check on the gun when it was purchased.

to be the Veep. The full list is to be found at Kevin's place, includingWorse yet, Palin created a budget surplus and mailed it back to the taxpayers. Doesn’t she know that if the government generates a surplus, it’s doing something wrong? An experienced leader like Obama or Biden knows that taxpayer money belongs to the government – not to the people.

news places, I'm thinking that referring to them as 'fever swamps of the left' may be understated; some of them are like taking a trip to Mordor. The bullcrap about Sarah Palin is bad enough, but the attacks on her daughter and baby...

And Barack Volunteer Means Doing What I Say Obama has even bigger plans for his 'volunteer' corps than I'd known. Take a look at the damn list:Note the tone of these proposals: none of this false modesty about proposing these new agencies and Corps to Congress and working for their passage. His Plan simply declares: “Barack Obama will create” this; “Barack Obama will create” that.

***

All these programs are just the ones listed on the service pages of his campaign website. This list doesn’t include his most expensive program: health care. All these add up to the biggest expansion of the US government since FDR. If Obama gets most of what he wants, he will make libertarians look more fondly on the relatively modest proposals of Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon.Add that to his desire to trash the 1st Amendment if anyone dares say things about him he doesn't like(inconvenient facts included), and his desire to trash the 2nd, and his desire to control our lives in all ways, and he's a serious threat to life and freedom.

Moving over to (fG)Britain,Councils are recruiting 'citizen snoopers' to report litter louts, dog foulers and even people who fail to sort out their rubbish properly.

The 'environment volunteers' will also be responsible for encouraging neighbours to cut down on waste.

The move comes as local authorities dish out £100 fines to householders who leave out too much rubbish or fail to follow recycling rules.Which is foul enough. Then add this:It will fuel fears that Britain is lurching towards a Big Brother society, following the revelation this week that the Home Office is extending some police powers to council staff and private security guards.That ought to scare the hell out of you. Think of a weenie with a homeowners group with the power to write tickets and hand out fines as if a police officer. And, as is pointed out in their comments, they ain't lurching toward Big Brother society; they're already there.

Back to Palin, it's been just amazing to hear people who usually push "How dare you say this woman keep her baby" or "How dare you say she should not try to have it all, career and family?" stroking out and stating she should stay back in Alaska because 'the baby needs her' and 'her daughter needs her', etc. That's not counting the, to put it mildly, deranged morons who took the news about her daughter as a new attack point to try and destroy her family and her. Someone had a post the other day basically saying "What you are writing is how a lot people will see us and our causes, think about what you are saying!" Which is a good idea. But she's talking, in too many cases, to people who thought being told they couldn't carry urine and crap bombs around Denver was squashing their 'freedom of speech'; trashing someone and their children isn't even a blip on their screen to worry about. And this is the people who the Democrat Party has, on the national and some state levels, sold themselves to.

I got to spend part of yesterday helping a friend get started on the new swingset/tower/outpost of humanity on the frontier playset. He'd built one for the kids after they moved into their house, made out of 4x4 timbers. Last week, a storm blew through and we're guessing they caught part of a microburst; it left the thing looking like a pile of pick-up sticks. So the kids have a new playset started, he's got the timbers in a pile for later use, and I've got to go take care of some things.

Monday, September 01, 2008

with one thing and another, the last couple of days almost no time to check news, let alone write about it. Couple of things wanted to note:Anbar Province handed over to the Iraqis. Something most of the major media made very little mention of; I guess that kind of progress doesn't fit in with the thrill up their leg or wetting their pants for the Obamessiah. As Blackfive notes, thanks to those who made it happen.

Second, speaking as to the inexperience of Sarah Palin, Alaska is the first line of defense in our missile interceptor defense system. The 49th Missile Defense Battalion of the Alaska National Guard is the unit that protects the entire nation from ballistic missile attacks. It’s on permanent active duty, unlike other Guard units.

As governor of Alaska, Palin is briefed on highly classified military issues, homeland security, and counterterrorism. Her exposure to classified material may rival even Biden's.

She's also the commander in chief of the Alaska State Defense Force (ASDF), a federally recognized militia incorporated into Homeland Security's counterterrorism plans.

Palin is privy to military and intelligence secrets that are vital to the entire country's defense. Given Alaska's proximity to Russia, she may have security clearances we don't even know about.Which makes her national defense experience far in excess of The Obama, which should make some of the upcoming campaigning even more fun.

are out of their freakin' minds. I know, they were before, but the currentcrap that's going on... If you want to skip a lot of this crap, I don't blame you; I hadn't read it until this morning, and half wish I hadn't. Among other things, they're claiming that Palin wasn't actually pregnant; her daughter was, and she pretended to be pregnant to cover up for the daughter. AND, that's not the only piece of absolute frikkin' insanity these people are doing/saying:

"Pic from the Governor's convention-can we end this now?

Response:

BeyondGeography66. I agree...time to move on to the daughter

And the response to that?

"LOL! Destroying the Palin family one member at a time :rofl

Yep, that's the 'reality-based community' at work.

The other day, I wrote that the popping noise you hear when reading about Palin was lefty heads exploding; it looks like I wasn't kidding.

And some of these people are flat disgusting. And insane. They're claiming Karl Rove set this up to make them look bad. As if they need help with that.

E-mail me

at elmtreeforge at att point net

Of all tyrannies, a tyranny exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end, for they do so with the approval of their consciences. - C.S. Lewis

Y'all got on this boat for different reasons, but y'all come to the same place. So now I'm asking more of you than I have before. Maybe all. Sure as I know anything, I know this - they will try again. Maybe on another world, maybe on this very ground swept clean. A year from now, ten? They'll swing back to the belief that they can make people... better. And I do not hold to that. So no more runnin'. I aim to misbehave. - Capt. Mal

A Rifleman’s Prayer:Oh Lord, I would live my life in freedom, peace and happiness, enjoying the simple pleasures of hearth and home. I would die an old, old man in my own bed, preferably of sexual overexertion.

But if that is not to be, Lord, if monsters such as this should find their way to my little corner of the world on my watch, then help me to sweep those bastards from the ramparts, because doing that is good, and right, and just.

And if in this I should fall, let me be found atop a pile of brass, behind the wall I made of their corpses. Geek with a .45

"He's Black Council,", I said.

"Or maybe stupid," Ebenezar countered.

I thought about it. "Not sure which is scarier."

Ebenezar blinked at me, then snorted. "Stupid, Hoss. Every time. Only so many blackhearted villains in the world, and they only get uppity on occasion. Stupid's everywhere, every day." Ebenezar McCoy

“A man can never have too much red wine, too many books, or too much ammunition” ― Rudyard Kipling

This deprecation of individual freedom was objectionable to me. I am convinced now, as I was then, that man is an end because he is a child of God. Man is not made for the state; the state is made for man. To deprive man of freedom is to relegate him to the status of a thing, rather than elevate him to the status of a person. Man must never be treated as means to the end of the state; but always as an end within himself." Dr. M.L. King Jr.